Most popular names in your graduating class?

General Name Discussion
1

Well, the title pretty much sums it up. What were (are?) the most popular names in your high school graduating class?

I graduated a few years ago and my class was full of the most common 80’s and 90’s names- [name]Amy[/name], [name]Jamie[/name], [name]Rachel[/name], [name]Sarah[/name]/[name]Sara[/name], [name]Nicole[/name], [name]Megan[/name], [name]Michelle[/name], and such for girls, and [name]Jason[/name], [name]David[/name], [name]Adam[/name], [name]Andrew[/name], [name]Alex[/name], and [name]Daniel[/name]/[name]Dan[/name]/[name]Danny[/name] for boys.

What were your experiences? Any unique or unusual names of people you knew?

2

I’ll be finishing school next year! I go to an all-girls school, most common names in my year level are [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Georgina[/name], [name]Madeleine[/name], [name]Victoria[/name], [name]Olivia[/name] and Is(a/o)be(l/le/la). [name]Matilda[/name] is also fairly popular.
Unusual names in my year level are [name]Ursula[/name], [name]Cecilia[/name], [name]Elke[/name], [name]Daisy[/name] and [name]Maud[/name].
And most of the international students have really lovely names

3

I graduated in 2007 and out of 61 students this is the ranking of the most common names:
4 x [name]Sabrina[/name]
3 x [name]Vanessa[/name], [name]Daniel[/name], [name]Stefanie[/name]/[name]Stephanie[/name]
2 x [name]Jennifer[/name], [name]Andrea[/name]
Except for the turkish names (like [name]Meryem[/name], Tayfun, Alp, [name]Zeki[/name], Cihan and so on) our most unusual names were [name]Knut[/name], [name]Justine[/name] (girl) and [name]Felix[/name]

4

[name]Rosie[/name], where do you go to school? [name]How[/name] refreshing to see today’s classic baby names on older girls. Most Isabellas, Lucys, Matildas, etc. that I have seen are under the age of 5.

Anyway, I think baby namers are breaking off into two sects: trend followers (-aden and -aylee names, Top 10 names, unisex names) or people returning to old fashioned names ([name]Henry[/name], [name]William[/name], [name]Rose[/name], etc). What do you think?

5

i’m in South Australia, in a relatively upmarket area. It’s nice to see names in good use, but unfortunately I’ve become a bit tired of some perfectly lovely names. One thing I’ve noticed in my area is that people are using a lot of irish names! I help out at a preschool and there’s a [name]Siobhan[/name], a [name]Sinead[/name], a Naoime (sp?) and a [name]Declan[/name]. Scottish names are also popular where I live - [name]Angus[/name], [name]Hamish[/name] and [name]Lachlan[/name] in particular. Not just among little kids, but anyone under the age of about 25.
[name]Shame[/name] about all of the -aydens and -aylees. I know a few [name]Kayla[/name]'s but that’s it. Most of them are really lovely, actually! Whenever I meet a nice [name]Kayla[/name]/[name]Shaylee[/name]/Jaydinne, I always want to rename them and call them [name]Catherine[/name] or whatever haha.

6

I haven’t counted but I have the enduring impression of tons of Lindsays, Stephanies, and Melissas, and Joshes, Ryans, and Brians.

7

Not the most popular name, but the most interesting in my high school graduating class (98): a girl named [name]Lael[/name]. The girl herself was slightly annoying, but I loved her unusual name.

8

Class of 2003. [name]Orange[/name] County, [name]CA[/name].
Girls:
Tamberlyn
[name]Miranda[/name]
[name]Emily[/name]
[name]Mayra[/name]
Zayra
[name]Julia[/name]
[name]Vanessa[/name] (x2)
[name]Valerie[/name]
[name]Angela[/name]
[name]Abby[/name]
[name]Annabel[/name]
[name]Araceli[/name]
[name]Raquel[/name]
[name]Vicky[/name] ([name]Victoria[/name], I guess)
Yuridiana
[name]Viridiana[/name]
Xotchil
[name]Melina[/name]
[name]Ashley[/name]
[name]Becky[/name]
[name]Betsy[/name]
[name]Isis[/name]
[name]Belen[/name]
[name]Juana[/name]
[name]Lindsay[/name]
[name]Monica[/name]
[name]Nancy[/name]
[name]Patricia[/name] (x2)
[name]Veronica[/name]
[name]Elizabeth[/name] (quite a few of these)
[name]America[/name]
[name]Allison[/name]/[name]Sarah[/name] (switched to her middle name)

Boys:
[name]Brian[/name]
[name]Cesar[/name]
[name]Eric[/name]
[name]Omar[/name]
[name]Armando[/name]
[name]Albert[/name]
[name]Francisco[/name]
[name]Elliot[/name]
[name]Juan[/name]
[name]Chris[/name]
[name]Marco[/name]
[name]Marcos[/name]
[name]Eleazar[/name]
[name]Ralph[/name] ([name]Raphael[/name])
[name]Shane[/name]
[name]Stephen[/name]
[name]Adrian[/name]
[name]Ray[/name]
[name]Jimmy[/name]
[name]Javier[/name]
[name]Ernie[/name]
[name]Edward[/name]
[name]Carlos[/name]
[name]Efren[/name]
[name]Alex[/name]
[name]Brandon[/name]
[name]Wilson[/name]
[name]Edgar[/name]
[name]Jackson[/name]/[name]Corey[/name] (switched to his middle name)

There are more I can’t remember. That’s all in my graduating class. A few interesting ones from surrounding years include Micol nn [name]Mimi[/name], sisters [name]Jasper[/name] and [name]Topaz[/name], [name]Arcadia[/name], [name]Chiara[/name], Samrah.

9

I graduated in 2003, and the most popular names by far were…
Girls
[name]Katie[/name]/[name]Kaitlyn[/name]… or any other spelling variation
[name]Jessica[/name]
[name]Sarah[/name]/[name]Sara[/name]

Boys//
[name]Adam[/name]
[name]Matthew[/name]
[name]Josh[/name]
[name]Kyle[/name]
[name]Chris[/name]

10

Most Popular: [name]Jacob[/name], [name]Emily[/name], [name]Michael[/name], [name]Avery[/name], [name]Phil[/name], [name]Alex[/name]/[name]Alec[/name], definitely [name]Julia[/name]!

11

I graduated in 1994 - 15 years ago (can’t believe it) and we had 11 girls named [name]Jennifer[/name] in a graduating class of 90 total. I have always said that I would never name my baby the most popular name ([name]Jennifer[/name] was #1 in 1975/76) b/c I didn’t want her to be one of many in the same class. In my English class, there was nine Jennifers and me and [name]Tonya[/name]. The Jennifers were never called on just me, [name]Tonya[/name], and the boys in the class. I always had to be well prepared in that class cause there was a good chance she’d call on me. :slight_smile:

[name]Jason[/name] and [name]Stephen[/name] were the most popular boys, but nothing that came close to the Jennifers.

12

I graduated a long, long time ago, too long ago to admit! But what interests me about my graduating class is that some people had names that are popular now or have been popular in the last few years. Some of them even had very cool Nameberry types of names:
Boys:
[name]George[/name]
[name]Gus[/name] (in elementary school)
[name]August[/name]
[name]Peter[/name]
[name]Gabriel[/name] nn [name]Gabe[/name]
[name]Philip[/name]
[name]Frank[/name]
[name]Theodore[/name] (in elementary school)
[name]Andrew[/name]
[name]Charles[/name] nn [name]Charlie[/name]
[name]Thomas[/name]

Girls:
[name]Madeline[/name] (she was actually [name]Madeline[/name] Stowe, the actress. I remember riding with her on the bus.)
[name]Bronwen[/name]
[name]Marian[/name]
[name]Grace[/name]
[name]June[/name]
[name]Pascal[/name] (exchange student from [name]France[/name])
[name]Clare[/name]
[name]Shannon[/name]
[name]Glennys[/name]
I pretended my name was [name]Evelyn[/name] in my art class.

Unusual names not even on Nameberry
Wolfram and Jergen - boys
Philipinas - girl, she got teased a lot, but she took it really well.

Then I went to [name]Art[/name] School:
Boys:
[name]Bart[/name]
[name]Kamran[/name], an Iranian name. He had escaped from Iran.
[name]Harry[/name], a teacher’s name
[name]Peter[/name], a Russian teacher’s name. It was such an international school.
It’s sad but I can’t remember very many names. I remember a lot of the obvious names like [name]Mark[/name] and [name]Scott[/name] and [name]Jeff[/name].

Girls:
[name]Lena[/name]. She was Scandinavian.
[name]Peter[/name] - a girl named [name]Peter[/name]
[name]Camille[/name]
[name]Zofia[/name] from Poland. Still know her. Her daughter is named [name]Veronica[/name] and went to school with my daughter. [name]Zofia[/name] has an amazing story about how she left Poland and came here to go to art school.
Darrilyn
[name]Ardith[/name], my teacher’s name, love that name.
[name]Bernice[/name], another teacher’s name
[name]Kathe[/name], a secretary at the school. Pronounced [name]Kay[/name]-tuh?

13

Class of 2012!

In so particular order, there are lots kids named:

[name]Katherine[/name]/[name]Katie[/name]**
[name]Jennifer[/name]*
[name]Matthew[/name]/[name]Matt[/name]*
[name]Jacob[/name]/[name]Jake[/name]
[name]Sarah[/name]
[name]Zachary[/name]/[name]Zach[/name]
[name]Zach[/name]/[name]Chris[/name]
[name]Allison[/name]
[name]Taylor[/name] (both genders)
[name]Michael[/name]/[name]Mike[/name]
[name]Robert[/name]/[name]Robbie[/name]/[name]Rob[/name]
[name]Danielle[/name]
[name]Nicole[/name] (always a [name]Danielle[/name] and [name]Nicole[/name] sister set)
[name]Anthony[/name]
[name]Joshua[/name]/[name]Josh[/name]
[name]Devin[/name]
[name]Alyssa[/name]
[name]Eric[/name]**
[name]Shane[/name]
[name]Jacqueline[/name]/[name]Jackie[/name]

*Especially common

Mostly generic mid-90’s names. The number Katies is crazy! There are some strange ones though…

14

I graduated in 1980 and in my class the most popular girl’s names were [name]Lynn[/name] (middle), [name]Ann/name (also middle), [name]Marie[/name] (middle) and [name]Mae[/name], [name]Faye[/name], [name]Gay/name, [name]Rae[/name] (middle) and [name]Elaine[/name] (middle). The most popular first names for girls were [name]Sharon[/name], [name]Cynthia[/name], [name]Alice[/name], [name]Kimberly[/name], and [name]Lisa[/name]. The most unusual girl’s names were [name]Ora[/name], Pameral, and [name]Kimberlyn[/name]. The most popular boys names were [name]Michael[/name] and [name]Scott[/name] (used for both middle and first), [name]Wayne[/name] (middle). Most popular first names were [name]James[/name], [name]Timothy[/name], [name]John[/name], [name]Anthony[/name], and [name]Mark[/name] or [name]Marc[/name]. The most unusual names for boys were[name]Batista[/name], Celsus, [name]Delphin[/name], Ellies, [name]Eldridge[/name], Goodwin, [name]Granville[/name], [name]Hollis[/name], [name]Haywood[/name], Milliard, [name]Montgomery[/name], [name]Odell[/name], Sherald, Sterlin, [name]Thornton[/name], and [name]Terris[/name].

15

I graduated in 1988. The most common girls’ names I can remember were:

[name]Jennifer[/name], [name]Christine[/name] or [name]Christina[/name] (sometimes [name]Chris[/name], occasionally [name]Tina[/name]), [name]Lisa[/name], [name]Amanda[/name], [name]Andrea[/name], [name]Jessica[/name], [name]Patricia[/name] (most always [name]Patty[/name], one [name]Tricia[/name]), [name]Melissa[/name], and [name]Amy[/name]. Also (always) [name]Cathy[/name] for [name]Catherine[/name]. Most that I did not have a nickname for indeed usually were called their full name.

The most common boys’ names I can remember were:

[name]John[/name], [name]Mike[/name] for [name]Michael[/name], [name]Steven[/name], [name]Christopher[/name] (or possibly [name]Christian[/name] - all [name]Chris[/name]), [name]Jim[/name] for [name]James[/name], [name]David[/name], [name]Eric[/name], [name]Brian[/name] or [name]Bryan[/name], [name]Jeff[/name] for [name]Jeffrey[/name], man - where did all the Jeffreys go? That’s weird. Seemed to be as many Stevens and Erics as there were Johns and Mikes. Not as many Kevins or [name]Roberts[/name] or [name]Richards[/name].

Some of the odd names were usually a foreign exchange student or someone with immigrant parents - [name]Alice[/name], [name]Vivian[/name], [name]Arno[/name], Bernd, [name]Georg[/name], [name]Simone[/name], [name]Mei[/name]-lin, Srinivas, Sandeep, etc. I also knew in high school perhaps only one person each with these names (odd or even new to me at the time): [name]Ross[/name], Camillus, [name]Darlene[/name], [name]Camille[/name], [name]Krista[/name], [name]Audra[/name], [name]Deirdre[/name], [name]Fawn[/name], [name]Dylan[/name], [name]Emily[/name], [name]Albert[/name], [name]Dianne[/name], [name]Mitzy[/name], [name]Sabrina[/name] and [name]Egan[/name]. Not all wonderful choices but some of them were ahead of their time at the very least.

16

[name]Berkeley[/name] High, Class of 1987

[name]Sarah[/name] (including me - were all always referred to by first and last name)
[name]Jennifer[/name]
[name]Jessica[/name]
[name]Alison[/name]
[name]Rebecca[/name]
[name]Rachel[/name]
[name]Shana[/name]

17

(I’m currently in high school)

5 x [name]Megan[/name]/[name]Meghan[/name]
4 x [name]Kaitlin[/name]/[name]Caitlin[/name]
3 x [name]Amanda[/name]
3 x [name]Casey[/name]
3 x [name]Ashley[/name]
3 x [name]Stephanie[/name]
2 x [name]Elizabeth[/name]
2 x [name]Alana[/name]/ [name]Alannah[/name]
2 x [name]Bridget[/name]
2 x [name]Victoria[/name]
2 x [name]Jillian[/name]
2 x [name]Krista[/name]/[name]Christa[/name]
4 x [name]Laura[/name]/[name]Lauren[/name]
2 x [name]Samantha[/name]
2 x [name]McKenzie[/name]

And the unique/unusual ones:
[name]Terra[/name]
Raelah
[name]Averie[/name]
Amisha
[name]Mariah[/name]
[name]Bernadette[/name]
[name]Regina[/name]
[name]Cynthia[/name]
Muriam
Maryclaire
Prarthana
Chidi
[name]Chandler[/name]
[name]Quinn[/name]
[name]Arianna[/name]
[name]Murphy[/name]
[name]Ruth[/name]-[name]Anne[/name]
[name]Amalia[/name]
[name]Marina[/name]
[name]Drucila[/name]
[name]Rubina[/name]
[name]Leandra[/name]
[name]Rosemary[/name]
Jenova
[name]Eileen[/name]
[name]Noel[/name]
[name]Daniella[/name]
[name]Camille[/name]
[name]Janet[/name]
[name]Randi[/name]
[name]Roxanne[/name]
[name]Monique[/name]
Margeaux
[name]Nathalie[/name]
[name]Adrienne[/name]
[name]Roslyn[/name]

18

Oops, I forgot to put the unusual/less common/interesting names in my original post!

Unusual boys’ names-
[name]Lawson[/name]
[name]Josiah[/name] (both guys that my BFF dated- she has good taste in names!)
[name]Colin[/name] (goes by middle name [name]Scott[/name], I prefer his given name)
[name]Bryce[/name]
[name]Ali[/name] (from Iraq)
Xinyu

Girls-
[name]Sarine[/name] (from an Armenian family. No, her name isn’t related to [name]Sarah[/name], it’s a different root)
[name]Griffin[/name] and [name]Devin[/name] (both tomboyish girls)
[name]Tessa[/name] (went by TJ, again I liked her real name better)
[name]Avra[/name] and Vasiliki (both are Greek)
[name]Nina[/name]
Yucheng (from a Chinese family- for a while she went by [name]Ivy[/name] as an English name)
[name]Jade[/name]
Svenja (a [name]German[/name] girl who was at my school for a couple years)
[name]Aliza[/name]
[name]Ellery[/name]

19

I’ve just had my five year reunion and here are the most common names in my class:
[name]Josh[/name]!
[name]David[/name]
and the [name]Christie[/name] names for girls: [name]Kristin[/name], [name]Kristie[/name], [name]Christine[/name], [name]Christina[/name]…

20

I went to an English girls’ boarding school ( though I’m American ) and graduated in 1982. ( Looking at others’ posts about their graduating years, I suddenly feel quite old ! ) My class had 96 girls. There were : 7 variations of [name]Katherine[/name] , 6 Elizabeths, 3 each named [name]Jennifer[/name], [name]Nicola[/name], [name]Rachel[/name] ( 2 variations ) and [name]Sally[/name], 2 each named [name]Alison[/name], [name]Anna[/name], [name]Fiona[/name], [name]Isobel[/name] ( 2 variations ), [name]Jane[/name], [name]Joanna[/name], [name]Julia[/name], [name]Karen[/name], [name]Louise[/name], [name]Naomi[/name] ( a fluke-[name]Naomi[/name] didn’t become popular until some years later in the UK, and there were no other Naomis at all at my school ) [name]Sally[/name], and [name]Victoria[/name].